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EZEKIEL

(Heb. yĕḥezqʾēl),

BOOK OF

A book of the Major Prophets, attributed to the prophet Ezekiel.

The Prophet

Ezekiel, son of a priest named Buzi, was among the leading Judean citizens exiled, with King Jehoiachin, to Babylon in 597 b.c.e. His call to be a prophet is dated to 13 July 594, and his last recorded oracle to 10 April 574 (following the chronological equivalences of Ernst Kutsch; the reference to Ezekiel’s 30th year in 1:1 has not been satisfactorily explained). We have little biographical information, and Ezekiel’s marriage is only known because of the notice about his wife’s death in 24:15-24. A contemporary of the Judean prophet Jeremiah, whom he does not mention, Ezekiel’s primary period of activity in Babylon was ca. 25 years before the prophet known as Second Isaiah (Isa. 40–55). His knowledge of contemporary Jerusalem can be explained either by his own earlier experience there or by reports that reached the exiles in Mesopotamia. His unusual priestly behavior can almost always be interpreted as an expression of his passionate views on judgment or hope, and not as evidence for emotional imbalance or even psychosis.

The Book

The book of Ezekiel is divided into three major sections: chs. 1–24, oracles of judgment against Judah and Jerusalem; chs. 25–32, oracles against foreign nations; and chs. 33–48, words of hope. Characteristic vocabulary and expressions in the book include “mortal” as God’s designation for the prophet; “house of Israel”; “you (or ‘they’) shall know that I am the Lord,” and many words in common with the pentateuchal documents H and P. The large number of disputation words in the book indicates that the prophet experienced considerable opposition during his own lifetime. Four great vision accounts (chs. 1–3; 8–11; 37; 40–48) dominate the structure of the book.

The complex and vivid symbolism in ch. 1 connotes the reality of the God who appeared to the prophet and his mobility, shown by his presence in Babylon, away from the temple and the promised land. In the report of his call, Ezekiel is instructed to hand on obediently a message characterized as lamentation, mourning, and woe, regardless of whether the people listened or not (3:11). The watchman paragraph (3:16-21; cf. 33:1-9) limits the prophetic responsibility to the giving of a warning about God’s imminent assault on Jerusalem. The account of the watchman in ch. 33 insists that Yahweh does not desire the death of the wicked, but only that they turn from their wicked ways and live.

Twelve sign actions are recorded in Ezekiel, slightly more than for his contemporary Jeremiah and far surpassing the number in earlier prophecy. Ezekiel’s stoic response to his wife’s death anticipates the exiles’ response to the destruction of the temple and the death of their own relatives (24:15-24). His periodic speechlessness during his early years is broken only when God permits or empowers him to speak (3:22-27), but his muteness ends when a refugee from the captured city of Jerusalem arrives in Babylon (24:25-27; 33:21-22) and Ezekiel’s mouth is freed to speak the longest sustained hope passage in the Bible. He acts out the siege of Jerusalem (4:1-3), bears the guilt of the people as their substitute (vv. 4-8), eats limited rations like a person in a siege (vv. 9-11), and objects to eating bread baked on coals made of human dung, only to have Yahweh mitigate this fate slightly by allowing him to use fuel made of animal dung (vv. 12-15). In 5:1-4 Ezekiel burns one third of his hair, chops up another third of it with a sword, and scatters the final third to represent what will happen to the people at the fall of Jerusalem. Verse 3 introduces the idea of a remnant through the symbol of a few hairs bound into the hem of his garment. Other sign actions are in 12:1-16, 17-20; 21:6-7, 8-13; and 37:15-28, the only sign action with a positive message.

In the great vision of judgment in chs. 8–11, Ezekiel is transported to Jerusalem to observe the abominations, or cultic sins, in the temple. He then also sees executioners pass through the city to smite old and young alike, but only after a priestly figure has placed marks on all those who sigh or groan over the abominations of the city, indicating that they will be spared punishment. The first part of this vision ends with a description of the glory of Yahweh moving from the temple to a throne chariot parked nearby and then riding off into exile. The God who pronounces judgment against Jerusalem is the same one who had called Ezekiel to be a prophet in the Exile. In the second part of this vision, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah falls dead while Ezekiel is prophesying (11:1-13). The significance of his death may lie in his name, which means something like “Yahweh delivers,” the son of “Yahweh builds up.” If a person with such a name cannot escape the judgment of Yahweh, who can?

In chs. 14, 18, and 33 Ezekiel develops a sophisticated theological discussion on a number of disputed issues. He holds that it is possible for the exiles to repent, and this possibility is not restricted by the behavior of previous generations or even by the conduct of the present generation in earlier stages of its life. One person’s righteousness cannot reverse the retribution faced by others in the community who are wicked or even the retribution faced by that person’s own wicked descendants. Unrepented evil behavior will make null and void the blessings contained in Yahweh’s promises.

In ch. 20 Ezekiel symbolically retells the history of Israel, indicating that Yahweh had contemplated destroying the people before they had left Egypt (v. 8), and that exile had been determined as their fate before they entered the land (vv. 23-24). Hence inquiry of Yahweh during the Exile is ruled out of the question by Ezekiel (v. 31). Nevertheless, Yahweh would act as king to liberate his people from their several places of exile, sorting out in the process all rebels and traitors, before leading them back to Zion (vv. 32-44). Through imagery of female sexual impurity, bordering on vulgarity, Ezekiel indicts Jerusalem and Samaria (chs. 16, 23), and he compares Jerusalem unfavorably to Samaria and Sodom because of its greater wickedness (16:47-48). The patriarchal bias of both chapters is problematic to modern readers.

The oracles against the nations in chs. 25–32 address seven countries: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. Conspicuous by its absence is Babylon. This silence may be explained by political expediency or by the fact that Ezekiel lived at the beginning of the exilic period, when higher priority might be given to the fate of the nations surrounding Israel than to the great world power itself. The oracles against the nations are usually seen as a kind of middle ground between words of judgment against Israel and words of hope for Israel. Ezekiel argues that Yahweh’s glory and holiness could be maintained only if the nations were judged, and if Israel, beyond its present judgment, were finally saved.

The hopeful words of chs. 33–37 climax in 37:24b-28, which promises everlasting possession of the land, an everlasting Davidic prince, an everlasting covenant, and an everlasting sanctuary in the midst of Israel. In the vision of the valley of the dry bones (37:1-14), Ezekiel asserts that a future is possible for Israel only by God’s power, and he describes that power through actions that can only be performed by Yahweh, such as creation, exodus, and resurrection. The ultimate goal of deliverance is knowledge of Yahweh (37:6, 13-14).

Before spelling out the future promise in detail, the book of Ezekiel leaps ahead to a time after Israel has been restored to the land, when it is threatened by a mysterious invasion from the north (chs. 38–39). Gog of Magog (perhaps a mythological allusion to Gyges of Lydia) will be brought by Yahweh against Israel, but then will be utterly defeated in the land, with the people destroying his weapons and burying his dead. Subsequently, Yahweh will invite every kind of bird and wild animal — i.e., the entire nonhuman family — to a great victory banquet, at which the defeated soldiers and their animals are served as the main course. These chapters demonstrate that no enemy nation will ever invade the Holy Land again with success.

The theme of Yahweh’s presence with his people is the central motif in the final vision of the book (chs. 40–48). Ezekiel is led around the temple and its environs and given the dimensions of the new sanctuary that will be built there (40:1–44:3). At the end of this description, Ezekiel sees the glory of the God of Israel return from the east and reenter the temple through the east gate (43:1-5). His guide informs him that the east gate will always remain shut so that no one would ever traverse the same path Yahweh took into the temple (44:2), but implying also that Yahweh would never again leave through that gate. Land is set aside for the “prince” (the term Ezekiel uses for the king or messiah of the future; cf. 34:24; 37:25), in order to give him sufficient income so that he will not be tempted to oppress those whom he rules (45:7-8). In general, Ezekiel has a low opinion of the kings during his lifetime (chs. 17, 19, 34). One of the future prince’s principal roles will be as a prime figure at worship, with the result that he is assigned a favored place in the east gate during sacrificial rituals (46:2). A stream coming from the temple signifies Yahweh’s renewed presence with the people, and this brings new life to the Judean desert and even to the Dead Sea (47:1-12; cf. Gen. 2:10-14; Ps. 46:4-5[MT 5-6]; Joel 3:18[4:18]; Zech. 14:8). The division of the land among the tribes gives to each the same amount of territory (implying equality), all on the west side of the Jordan (implying separation from territory deemed religiously suspect, Josh. 22:26-29), and the book conceives of the arrangement of the land in zones of holiness: the temple, its priests, and the Levites are at the center of the land, and next to this sacred area come four tribes to the north and four to the south who are descended from one of the full wives of Jacob. The three farthest tribes on the north and the farthest tribe on the south are descended from the handmaidens of the wives. The final verse of the book may well be secondary, but it expresses well the central theological idea that has been developed throughout the final vision: “The name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord is There” (Ezek. 48:35).

Bibliography. L. C. Allen, Ezekiel 1–19. WBC 28 (Waco, 1994); Ezekiel 20–48. WBC 29 (Waco, 1990); J. Galambush, Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel. SBLDS 130 (Atlanta, 1992); M. Greenberg, Ezekiel 1–20. AB 22 (Garden City, 1983); R. W. Klein, Ezekiel: The Prophet and His Message (Columbia, S.C., 1988); W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1. Herm (Philadelphia, 1979); Ezekiel 2. Herm (Philadelphia, 1983).

Ralph W. Klein

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EZEKIEL

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)